PTI wants scrutiny of religious parties’ accounts

ISLAMABAD: Facing the charge of receiving funds from unauthorised means, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has now called for scrutiny of the accounts and funds of all political parties, specifically the religious parties. Claiming that the PTI has submitted complete record of the party funds and accounts as well as a list of all donors to the Supreme Court, PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that now it was the turn of other political parties, including the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and religious parties, to disclose their sources of funds. Speaking at a news conference along with the party’s former information secretary Naeemul Haq here on Monday, the PTI spokesman asked the country’s intelligence agencies to find out the sources of funds of the religious parties. “We have presented our record. We hope that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and other institutions will now ask (about the source of funding) from other parties,” he said, adding that instead of treating overseas Pakistanis with suspicion, secret agencies and other institutions should probe “funding of the PML-N and religious parties with keen eye”. PPP rejects allegation of receiving funds from abroad Fawad Chaudhry, who is one of the legal advisers of PTI chief Imran Khan, alleged that Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) had been receiving funds from Libya whereas there were parties which received funds from Saudi Arabia and Iran. The PTI leader said his party had been asked to provide details of its accounts and funds only for the period between 2010 and 2013, but they had submitted the seven-year record till March 2017. Showing the bulk of documents, he claimed that the party had submitted the list of more than 30,000 Pakistanis living in the US who had contributed to the party funds. Over the past seven years, he said, the party had received more than $3 million and all transactions had been made through “official banking channel”. He said that under the US laws, individuals could not donate funds directly to parties, so the PTI had to hire services of “agent companies” for the purpose. Fawad Chaudhry claimed that all members of the board of governors of these companies were overseas Pakistanis and their details had also been provided to the Supreme Court, adding that that 99 per cent of the donors had donated the amount between $10 and $15. He said the PTI did not have big donors like Osama bin Laden who, he alleged, had provided billions of rupees to the PML-N. On the other hand, he said, the Joint Investigation Team, which probed the money laundering allegations against the Sharif family, had revealed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had donated Rs145m to the PML-N. But, he claimed, there was no mention of this amount in the accounts details of the PML-N. “Where has this money gone? This shows that Nawaz Sharif has used the PML-N for money laundering,” he said, criticising the ECP and other financial institutions for not taking action against the ruling party. He criticised Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for accusing Imran Khan of misusing the charity money and said the minister had not been able to even establish a dispensary in his hometown Sialkot, but always remained active in criticising the projects like Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital. Naeemul Haq claimed that the PTI had not violated any law of the country while receiving funds from abroad. He said the PTI had also submitted to the court details of the accounts of other political parties so that it could make a comparison. Money trail documents PTI secretary general Jahangir Tareen posted on his official Twitter account images of the documents which Imran Khan had submitted to the Supreme Court to prove the money trail for the purchase of his flat in London. Mr Khan, while speaking at a news conference on Sunday, had shown some of the documents to journalists and said he had provided complete details of his banking transactions to the court and money trail for not only his London flat, but also Banigala property. PPP rebuttal Spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party Senator Farhatullah Babar on Monday rejected the PTI’s allegation that the party had received funds from abroad. “Neither the party has received funds from abroad nor it has held fund-raising events in any foreign country at any time,” Mr Babar said while commenting on reports that the PTI had submitted some documents before the ECP claiming that the PPP had also received foreign funding. Mr Babar said the PPP was funded entirely by the money raised in Pakistan while the overseas units of the party financed themselves locally there in accordance with the laws of the country. Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2017

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